4Culture and King County Water and Land Resources Division (WLRD) are thrilled to announce the selection of five artists who will create artwork for a series of banners to be displayed as part of a rotating banner art installation. This installation will celebrate the redesign and reimagining of the White Center Ponds stormwater facility and greenspace.

Nak Bou, Carlos Martinez, Scott Méxcal, Mar Olivos, and Camille Trautman will explore the pond’s ecology and consider local history, culture, and the diverse communities of the area to inspire their work. The panelists for this project each have deep ties to White Center, which lend this project a special connection to place and community. Read more about our panelists below.

Artist research and community engagement is underway and the artists will have until next summer to create designs for their banners.  Installation will be coordinated with the opening of White Center Ponds redesign anticipated to occur in 2028.

MEET THE ARTISTS

Note: The images below are examples of the artist’s work and not a White Center Ponds banner image.

Kann ‘Nak’ Bou is a multidisciplinary artist based in Renton and holds a B.A. in Design and Media Arts from UCLA. Nak explores the intersections of mark-making and cultural narrative through a wide range of mediums. Using a variety of media—including spray paint, oil pastels, watercolor, and airbrush—Nak improvises compositions, referencing international design aesthetics and hand-painted signs and storefronts encountered during travels to India, Cambodia, and beyond. The work also weaves together personal history and collective memory.

Carlos Martinez is an artist based in Seattle, Washington. Carlos’ surrealist paintings use portraiture, symbolism, and dreamlike imagery to depict lived experiences. His open-ended narratives merge the familiar with the subconscious, creating spaces where personal experiences transform into reflections on intimacy, relationships, and the emotional complexities that shape our lives.

In his public artwork, Carlos uses surrealism that encourages exploration, imaginative engagement and invites interpretation, discovery, and personal connection.

Scott Méxcal is a social practice artist, scholar, mentor, and community activist. Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Scott grew up amongst the nopales and yucca plants learning the fundamentals of Chicano Street Art. In 2022, Scott earned an MFA in Social and Environmental Practice Art at Prescott College. Scott has created public art projects and exhibited work throughout Seattle. Scott’s activism supports the fight for immigrant justice and collective liberation. In addition to his work as an artist Scott mentors bilingual youth at a free Friday night art program, and is a professor of art.

Mar Olivos is a Queer, Latine, nonbinary, disabled artist from Walla Walla, now based in Seattle. With ancestral roots from Michoacán and Guanajuato, Mexico their work resists oppressive systems while reclaiming joy through creative practice. Drawing from nature, lineage, and queerness, they create worlds shaped by their lived experience and culture. Their illustrations, paintings, wearable art, and self‑portraiture explore identity as an individual and of the communities they are a part of. Their use of color drives movement and texture, forming visual narratives that connect body, land, and imagination.

Camille Trautman is an artist whose work investigates transgender and indigenous identity and mediated self-perception through the use of photography and video. Camille’s work has been exhibited internationally at museums such as the Nogales Museum of Art (Nogales, Sonora, Mexico) and nationally with solo exhibitions at the Frye Art Museum (Seattle, WA) and the Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, WA). They were also interviewed for a feature on their art and photography by Seattle Magazine for the December 2025 issue. They have completed multiple public art commissions. Camille graduated with an MFA in Photography, Video and Imaging from the University of Arizona in 2025. 

MEET THE ARTIST SELECTION PANELISTS

Becca Sanchez was born and raised in White Center, after her parents moved there in the early 90s searching for new opportunity and comfort in the growing Latino community. She currently works in youth programming in the non-profit sector.

Peanutt Ngeth was born and raised in White Center, and directly felt the impact of the individuals and organizations throughout the community. Peanutt now works in White Center at the Log Cabin.

Judy Avitia-Gonzalez has called White Center home since the age of 11 and is now raising her children there. She is co-owner of the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery, which brings art and cultura to the neighborhood.

Cecelia DeLeon grew up in White Center and visits the area often.

WLRD staff were also part of the panel process.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The White Center Ponds are a stormwater pond facility with natural features that collect and clean rainwater. King County is redesigning White Center Ponds to transform the site from an underperforming facility with an unsafe greenspace into a multi-benefit community asset. Located just east of downtown White Center, the White Center Ponds redesign site stretches from Southwest Roxbury Street to Southwest 100th Street and between 11th and 12th Avenues Southwest.

The redesign will enhance ecological features, improve water quality treatment, and expand public access and recreational opportunities. The project aims to create a naturalized landscape accessible by the community, and maintain and improve its stormwater management functions. The redesigned facility will increase water storage, walking paths, native plantings, habitat improvements, and community gathering spaces, reflecting King County’s commitment to green infrastructure that serves environmental, health and recreational purposes.

The redesign also includes new pathway lighting throughout the site with light poles that will display the artists’ banners. 

Stay tuned for updates about this project and our artists at 4culture.org – sign up for our newsletter or follow us on social media.